Sen. Aronberg fights to block Alligator Alley lease

LESLIE WILLIAMS HALE

8:52 PM, Nov 2, 2008

NAPLES - A roadblock has been thrown in front of the state's controversial plan to put Alligator Alley up for rent.

On Friday, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, announced that he had filed a bill seeking to prohibit deals like the one under consideration by the Florida Department of Transportation. In April, the department publicly began steps to lease the 78-mile toll road to private investors for 50 to 75 years.

Since then, the deal has gained myriad detractors from every walk of life, including local municipalities and officials from within the state Legislature.

Aronberg, who has been a vocal critic of the plan, is up for reelection Tuesday.

The bill drafted by Aronberg would place a two-year moratorium on road lease agreements with private companies, and would completely prohibit the state from making such deals with "foreign-financed companies."

That could block efforts completely by FDOT, which has placed six teams of firms on a short list to bid for the Alley lease. All of the teams are comprised mostly, if not completely, of international firms, mostly from Europe. That is where the business of leasing toll roads has been booming for a couple of decades.

One U.S. firm interested in the lease, Lehman Brothers, has been dropped from the team GVI Alligator Alley Access Partners following Lehman's September bankruptcy filing.

Meanwhile, infrastructure investment is still in its infancy in the United States, where firms like Goldman Sachs have been creating branches to take advantage of the fledgling business. However, in Florida, it may be over before it began, if Aronberg's legislation passes.

"FDOT has failed to do their homework on this massive deal," Aronberg said in the Friday announcement. "It's disappointing that the state is allowing private, foreign-financed companies to take control over our roads before anyone has looked to see if this plan is in the best interest of our state."

Just last week, Aronberg received documents as part of a public records request he made along with Republican state Sen. Burt Saunders, of Naples, who is seeking election against incumbent U.S. Congressman Connie Mack.

Those records consisted of e-mail communications between FDOT and the proposing firms, as well as documents that had been placed on the project Web site, alligator-alley.com, since Aronberg filed the records request. In the release, Aronberg indicated that he expected further justification for the lease than what he got from the state.

"But now that it has turned over all records, we know that this process is being rushed through without any figures to justify this outsourcing decision," he said.

Aronberg has asked for an independent review of the plan from the Florida Council on Efficient Government. FDOT, which is exempt from the council's mandate to review outsourcing proposals exceeding $10 million, declined the request several months ago.

Brad Ashwell, the Florida representative for Public Interest Research Groups, lauded Aronberg's move in its own statement Friday.

"From what we know about a potential Alligator Alley privatization deal, it would be much like taking out a sub-prime second mortgage on your house," said Ashwell. "It will be a heavily leveraged and risky way to borrow against the future income without taking the responsible route of fixing FDOT's longer-term finances."

Final bids on the road lease are due to FDOT by Dec. 15, and the state is expected to execute a contract with the winning bidder in the first few months of 2009. A public meeting on expected toll increases is slated for Nov. 12 at the Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway, starting at 6 p.m. with a formal public hearing at 7 p.m.